Fixing up my old milk barn.

[82355]

This building was originally a milk barn, long before I was born. My dad bought the farm in the early eighties. The guy we bought it from had fixed it up and made it into a shop. He use to work on Farmall M's in there. That is what he farmed with. We still have his Super M T/A that dad also bought on his farm sale. I am suppose to overhaul it this summer. My family lived on this farm for a couple of years, and then my parents bought another farm 3 miles North of here, and built a house. We moved into that house in 1987. After that my cousin moved into the house on this farm and lived here for years before he got married. Then it sat open for a couple years. After that there were some dirtball tenants that really made the place go downhill. They moved out about five years ago. A couple of my buddies then moved in, followed by my brother a little while later. I moved in here a couple of years ago, and am currently the only one living here. Back to the milk barn, my dad had also used the building as a shop when we lived here. It also was used for many years as a hay barn for small square bales. The dirtball tenant used it as a "body shop". I had been using it for the past few years as a place to store random 1973 - '87 Chevy truck parts. I quit working as a mechanic this past winter, so I need a place for my tool box, and a place to work on my own stuff. So I figured I would fix the old milk barn back up. Sorry about the long back story, here come the pictures.

The first day of working on it, my buddy Joe came up and he gave me his old digital camera. These are just a few random pictures of that first day, tearing off the old shakes, and getting ready to tin the roof.

The shakes were beyond shot. You could see daylight through many places in the roof.

Luckily the old 1"x12" sheeting underneath was still in pretty good shape.

That was all I took the first day. Stopping to take pictures just doesn't cross my mind when I am working on something. We ended up working on it until after nightfall. Got all of the shake torn off, and then ran 2"x4" stringers across the roof to have something to screw the tin down to, and make it so that you were able to walk around on the roof. That pitch is steeper than it looks.

Martin

 

[tRustyK5]

Cool, the base structure looks beef being concrete block. Pitch looks 10-12?

Rene

 

[82355]

Her is how it looked the next day. The wind blew really hard that day, so we didn't try to hang 18' long pieces of tin. My air compressor was down in the quonset, so we ran 200' of air hose up to the milk barn.

You can see some of the shakes from the North side that blew over onto the new tin on the South side.

We moved the two parts trucks out of the way to make room for the 4020LP.

Here is where we drug them to. Not much left of them, need to haul them in for iron.

Paid $100 for the brown 1981 K10. It had a blown 350 and a good SM465/NP208 combo in it with a set of 3.08:1 axles. I sold the rear axle to some other kid for $100. The funny part was I hauled the truck home from a couple hours away, and the kid that ended up buying the axles only lived a couple of miles from where I got it from. Paid $200 for the white 1979 K20, it had a 4.10:1 geared Dana 44/14bff combo in it.

Here are some pictures of all the random junk I had inside of it. Pay no attention to the stupid flames, those were from the former tenant.

Martin

 

[82355]

The following day the wind went back down and we got back to work. I even conned the old man into coming down and helping that day. The North side of the roof is a little higher up from the ground, so we were able to drive the 1976 C65 straight truck under the eve and rip the shakes off into it. Much easier that way.

That is the world's heaviest ladder I am pretty sure. It is off the old West grain bin that we don't use any more.

I bought my buddy Pedro lunch for helping me. He use to live here, rent free, so he kind of owed it.

Convinced another buddy to come out and help for a couple of hours as well.

All of the shakes off!

[/IMG]http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/82355/Picture0036.jpg[/IMG]

The finished South side.

Martin

 

[82355]

My buddy Joe photo shopped this quick to see what it would look like painted up.

How it looked Sunday afternoon before we finished tinning the roof.

Pedro in the loader bucket, installing the trim.

The old Farmhand loader gets up there a ways.

I thought he did a pretty nice free handed cut on the peak.

It was just the two of us Sunday afternoon, so I had to set all of the sheets up along the building, to eliminate climbing up and down every time.

At least we had a little better ladder this day.

Martin

 

[82355]

Dumping the old shakes into the burn hole.

They were stuck in there due to the snow, but it was thawing out, so I just left the truck sit there for a few hours.

Came back later and just backed up a couple feet, and out they came.

Finished product. Well the roof at least. It still needs a lot more work.

Martin

 

[82355]

Here is a quick shelf I built. Had the lumber laying around, and a few old keg shells. I found out today that a 15.5 gallon keg, is 15.5" across.

I got this old metal desk for free. Wouldn't mind finding a few more. It should make a decent light duty work bench, and the drawers have some decent rollers on them, so they should work good for storage.

Another freebie. I am not sure why anyone would want this in their house anyway, but it will work fine for me.

This is probably a shoddy air compressor, but I got it for $300 brand new. It is nice having it in the old parlor, it isn't very loud in the shop area. The hole in the concrete was already there, not sure what for, but it is kind of handy there.

I hung that piece of pegboard today. After I took this picture, I took it back down, and ran a 4th stringer behind it, and put it back up. Should work good for the cheaper tools I don't keep in my tool box. The ladder I also built today to gain access to the loft area on top of the old parlor. Once I got up there I found a ton of junk the previous tenant left behind. Some of it good stuff, most of it junk. There was a crack free dash for a 1973-1980 Chevrolet pickup up there, but he had set something on it, and smashed it, so it got burnt. Too bad really.

Another shot of the ladder I built. It may not be square, or pretty, but it is pretty damn stout.

A place to hang old license plates. I wonder what it would cost to ship old license plates here from out of state? I am sure some of you guys have old ones you would be willing to get rid of? I also found some old nails on the back wall that made a convenient place to hang old grilles.

Well that is all I have so far. I didn't take pictures of a lot of things. I had to put in a lot of new window pains, and other random things. It could also use some new doors. I need to finish cleaning the place, and I will try to get some more pictures as I go.

Martin

 

[82355]

Cool, the base structure looks beef being concrete block. Pitch looks 10-12?

Rene

Yes and no. My uncle had pigs in the feed lot behind the barn for years, and they rooted under the cement behind the barn. That caused it so come away from the building. That then cause the building to separate on the West wall above the back doorway where the cattle use to come in the barn. It is still pretty solid, but could use some work. The East and West ends need new wood, or just tinned. Overall, it is in pretty decent shape yet. Good enough to make it worth spending $1,700 on a new roof. I have probably put another $500 into other random things on the barn so far. After doors and such, who knows how much I'll wrap up into it.

As for the pitch, I can remember what it was. I know we used 18' long pieces of tin.

Also, is this the right section for such a thing?

Martin

 

[tRustyK5]

Not sure where it belongs, could be a build thread...it's definitely a Garage

i think we'll just leave it here unless someone else has a better idea.

Good job on fixin it up so far though!

Rene

Yes and no. My uncle had pigs in the feed lot behind the barn for years, and they rooted under the cement behind the barn. That caused it so come away from the building. That then cause the building to separate on the West wall above the back doorway where the cattle use to come in the barn. It is still pretty solid, but could use some work. The East and West ends need new wood, or just tinned. Overall, it is in pretty decent shape yet. Good enough to make it worth spending $1,700 on a new roof. I have probably put another $500 into other random things on the barn so far. After doors and such, who knows how much I'll wrap up into it.

As for the pitch, I can remember what it was. I know we used 18' long pieces of tin.

Also, is this the right section for such a thing?

Martin

 

[y5mgisi]

Love it! Like seeing people doing this kind of stuff for themselves.

 

[82355]

Thanks, to both of you.

Martin

 

[diesel4me]

Nice barn,and good job,doing the roof over!..wonder why tin wasn't used to begin with?....that silo next to the barn would make a neat "office" or party place ,you could make a couple of floor levels in it!..I knew a guy who lived in a converted silo in VT for a few years,it was a really cool "home"...had a spectacular mountain veiw..

I'd like to see a picture of your quonset too--I have a Steelmaster one.a S-20-13 mopdel that has straight sides 43" tall before it arches ,20 x 40 feet...FULL of junk!.....spent most of yesterday trying to nail 1/4" plywood over my punky 10x10' overhead door--its wasted,the wood is like crumb cake..

I love that C-60 too--looks to be in nice shape for its age...guess things there dont rot as bad as they do here,the frame on your parts truck looks better than mine does!..

 

[shady]

I'd steel the ends also instead of painting them. It would be quik and simple, plus permanent. some of your cut pieces from one side would work on the other also, so not much material needed either. Looks good by the way. I have the same roof on my house.

 

[79rustyk10]

dont see 4020's on LP very often, looks like a decent little shop, I would love something like that. I miss being out in the country, as to avoid the whole open header cam breakin/cops coming issue.

 

[Mirgh]

Enjoyed your project pics....good to see young guys with ambition and know-how. I get all enthused just viewing these sites and I'm almost too old to do anything about it. For some reason I started collecting and fixing air compressors. Now THAT requires some learning if I might say so. If it wasn't for this internet, I'd never have tried it. Keep up the good work and thanks for this site.

 

[82355]

Nice barn,and good job,doing the roof over!..wonder why tin wasn't used to begin with?....that silo next to the barn would make a neat "office" or party place ,you could make a couple of floor levels in it!..I knew a guy who lived in a converted silo in VT for a few years,it was a really cool "home"...had a spectacular mountain veiw..

The hog barn has a tinned roof, but the old grainery has shakes. The machine shed that was added onto the grainery had a tin roof. I am guessing the roof was just old enough that tin wasn't used. The silo should probably be knocked down, but I kind of like it. It has a tree growing inside of it that has made it out the top.

I'd like to see a picture of your quonset too--I have a Steelmaster one.a S-20-13 mopdel that has straight sides 43" tall before it arches ,20 x 40 feet...FULL of junk!.....spent most of yesterday trying to nail 1/4" plywood over my punky 10x10' overhead door--its wasted,the wood is like crumb cake..

The quonset is nothing special. Just a standard issue Behlen building. Has a smooth cement floor, but it used for storing farm equipment. I think it is 48'x60'.

I love that C-60 too--looks to be in nice shape for its age...guess things there dont rot as bad as they do here,the frame on your parts truck looks better than mine does!..

That is a 1976 C65 that my dad bought brand new off the lot. It has been stored inside its entire life. Otherwise it would be rusty. We have lots of rust issues here. The thing doesn't get used much anymore. Too small. i think the old man keeps it around for sentimental reasons more than anything.

Martin

 

[82355]

I'd steel the ends also instead of painting them. It would be quik and simple, plus permanent. some of your cut pieces from one side would work on the other also, so not much material needed either. Looks good by the way. I have the same roof on my house.

Oh I agree. I just think wood would look better. That and I want to paint a big white "N" on the front face of the barn.

Martin

 

[82355]

dont see 4020's on LP very often, looks like a decent little shop, I would love something like that. I miss being out in the country, as to avoid the whole open header cam breakin/cops coming issue.

There are a few around, but yeah, they are fairly rare. The old man bought it brand new. It was in good shape until we put the loader on it. That was its downfall. It is also a late model, so that makes it a pain in the ass to get on and off with the loader on there. Dad said he bought it that way because propane was so cheap back in the late 60's early 70's.

My uncle has a 3020LP with a Powershift. It's the only one I have ever seen.

Martin

 

[82355]

Enjoyed your project pics....good to see young guys with ambition and know-how. I get all enthused just viewing these sites and I'm almost too old to do anything about it. For some reason I started collecting and fixing air compressors. Now THAT requires some learning if I might say so. If it wasn't for this internet, I'd never have tried it. Keep up the good work and thanks for this site.

Where at in Nebraska are you located?

Martin

 

[Mirgh]

Where at in Nebraska are you located?

Martin

Lynch (Boyd County) North of O'Neill